


Tamar was very proud of that fact

by thefirsttailor



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29367597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirsttailor/pseuds/thefirsttailor
Summary: While out getting some things for dinner Tamar runs into a strange man and it ends up being the start of an adventure.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Tamar was very proud of that fact

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentines day to Cass from GrishaverseOnline its a great net so like go join it lol. Love you cass and i hope i did your girl good here I added some of my own ideas for her backstory but still I hope you like it

Tamar was born first, a fact she was very proud of. Tolya was taller and calmer, but she would always be older. She spent most of her life looking up to Tolya though she would never tell him that. She insisted on calling him her little brother for as long as she was taller than him. When their mother died Tamar knew she had to take care of him, but that failed quickly. Tamar was not the maternal type but she tried her best.  
When in Novyi Zem they largely ignored their birthday. Tamar struggled with them being so alone on their birthday. She avoided talking about it because she hated admitting that she had nothing to celebrate with her brother. She was walking around the center of town and she noticed the bookshop her brother was always looking around. Tamar took a look around the books and then she saw the damn thing. The gold was etched into the leather like falling leaves. It was a copy of Tolya’s favorite story The Too Clever Fox. The book was bound in leather and had artful designs that looked almost Ravkan. Tamar took a deep breath and stared at the book. Their father would want her to walk away. She had some money with her but that was not for Tolya to get a birthday gift.  
Walking back home after getting what she went into town for, Tamar was thinking about the book again. She didn’t want to go home, to see Tolya, to see their father. Tamar spent as much time out of the house as she could but the time she spent inside would never leave her mind. The way that their father screamed, the way he treated Tolya. It made her want to cry but she was not the type to weep. But Tamar was always left alone just Tolya had to suffer their father’s wrath. He was the boy and thus it was his job to “take care of” Tamar. She hated the idea that she was a burden, but that was the way father saw them. Tamar was not useless she could fight, she was alright with an axe considering her age and she was a quick thinker. These traits meant nothing once she noticed it. There was a man watching her. She looked over but once she turned her attention to him he vanished.  
Tamar dropped the food she was holding and got ready for a fight. This would not be the first time she had to use her abilities, being a heartrender made fighting easy at times. “Hello dear” a smooth voice called out to her. She turned around fast as she could and landed a punch straight to the man's nose. He fell to the ground quickly, as he fell he cursed in Ravkan a surprising language for this area. “I just want to talk” He said, “I saw you looking at my book I wanted to offer it to you thats all” He stood back up and brushed the dirt off his obnoxiously bright teal coat. “Who are you” She demanded. The man smiled at her with a mischievous look to him. “Your name first then we can talk about me.” Tamar got a good look at the man for the first time; he was no man; he was a boy. A boy barely older than her. “I am a girl minding my own business. Your turn.” The boy laughed and then swept into a mocking bow. “I am your humble servant girl minding her own business.” He reached for her hand which made her jump back. “I don’t need a servant, and you aren’t my type anyways” He started to look uncomfortable. ‘Took you long enough’ she thought. At least he was starting to realize she wanted nothing to do with him. Then he pulled the book from earlier out of his bag. “Its a good story, I bought it after I saw you looking at it. Cost a hell of a lot for a childrens story if you ask me” Tamar looked at the book as he held it out for her. “Dont worry sweetheart, the book can’t bite” Tamar snatched the book from him and narrowed her eyes, she made her voice as cold and authoritative as she could “Thank you for the book, now will you leave me alone.”  
She turned to walk away when he called after her making her stop dead in her tracks. “You know even if you are here they might still draft you for the Second Army” She was stunned somehow he knew. He walked up next to her. “Ah so I was right. Let me guess; healer? No you might be too mean for that.” Then he clicked his tongue a few times and his face lit up as he said “Your a heartrender aren’t you?” He looked like he had just been given a cookie. His whole face beamed bright as the sun. “I have needed one of you so badly” Tamar quirked her eyebrow “One of me?” She asked “I need a Corporalnik to join me and then you can be a part of the crew that I’ll gather and” he stopped dead in his tracks and all that childish joy was gone. His suave persona was back as he cleared his throat “I mean I have a great offer for you.”  
Tamar listened to his story for a while. It was well the craziest thing she had ever heard. But he also bought her a pastry so it was worth it to listen. “So let me get this straight, you want me to think you are a prince who ran away to play pirate and now you want me to make you look different so that people won’t know your a prince?” He nodded excitedly. “Yes you can be my first crew member it will be so fun” Tamar thought about it for a moment. Sailing around with a prince might be fun. It beat going back home at the least. Tolya though. The book for him was heavy in her lap when she thought of him. “I have a condition” She blurted out. Sturmhond looked at her tentatively. “I want to bring my brother, he's grisha and I want to leave today.” She was running a tough bargain. She knew it but still if it meant never going back to that house and it meant her and Tolya could just go and see the world it might be worth it.  
Tamar walked away from her meeting with the pirate empty handed. She didn’t even get to keep the book. She snuck spent that night laying awake thinking about how she had gone out to get dinner and instead she spent the night with a vagabond and had dropped the ingredients for dinner. Tolya and her had listened to a lengthy lecture from their father about how they had to do more to pull their weight and how Tolya would have to do the shopping with her. Tolya was scolded for letting her go alone. Thankfully Tamar didn’t mention the boy she talked to, if she had Tolya would be in for even more trouble.  
The next morning after their father went to work in the fields Tolya looked over to Tamar. “Tell me” he stated plainly. She hated how he could do that. He always knew when she was hiding something. “I got you a gift.” She countered. “Tolya looked at her with a mixture of annoyance and boredom. “That's not your secret so try again” he huffed at her. Tamar got up and walked into her room. She returned with two large bags. Throwing one at her brother she started towards the door. “Its full of your clothes that's why you have to carry the big one. Let’s go” Tolya walked after her with a surprising lack of resistance. “Is this about what happened last night?” He asked and then it all came out. Tamar told him about the boy she met, about the book, and about the pirate ship they were going to board. “I don’t like it” Tolya said when she was done. “Listen I’m tired of living like this don’t you want adventure? This boy is strange, yes, but I saw his money that at least is real the rest of his story seems odd though.” Tolya shook his head. Oh great here goes the stubborn side of him. Tamar thought “No, I don’t want to be a pirate” he said softly. Tamar laughed right out loud at him. He sounded like a petulant child. “Fine we won’t be pirates we can be, I don’t know something else.” Tolya looked off for a moment thinking then stated “I will go if we are privateers but I won’t be a pirate.” Tamar rolled her eyes and started walking agian. “Ok I will make sure he knows that we are NOT pirates but privateers.”  
Tamar thought of that day often. She was never maternal to her little brother but she did get that. She got them out of that house, and she got them onto a flying ship. Granted she didn’t know that ship could fly when she agreed but still. She took care of Tolya in her own way. They found that being privateers agreed with them for a time then guards was a good occupation. Tolya loved the book and they had the best 16th birthday ever.  
Tamar was born first and she met Nikolai first, two facts she was very proud of.


End file.
